San Clemente won't seek grant for new bus route – for now

If you had the money to start a new bus service in town, where would it go? Could you get at least 10 riders per hour to board it?

Those are two questions that won't be answered anytime soon in San Clemente. The City Council decided this week that the town probably couldn't compete with other Orange County cities for an OCTA grant to start a new local bus route and that the city probably isn't ready for one.

On a 5-0 vote Tuesday, the council turned down a proposal for the city to fund a $25,000 feasibility study as a first step toward applying for a bus grant from the Orange County Transportation Authority.

"I want to love this project so much," Councilwoman Lori Donchak said. But she didn't think San Clemente could be competitive for a grant and that it couldn't demonstrate it could find 10 riders per hour for a new bus.

"The buses in San Clemente are empty all the time," Councilman Jim Dahl said. OCTA has reduced the service because of low ridership, he said.

"I see this as grant money looking for a home," Councilman Bob Baker said.

Mayor Jim Evert said San Clemente could reconsider when the 248-acre Marblehead Coastal development restarts after being stalled by the 2008 economic collapse. A local "circulator" bus, as OCTA calls it, could travel among Marblehead Coastal's planned outlet center, North Beach, downtown and the pier, Evert suggested.

There will be other opportunities to enter the OCTA bus grant program, which a city staff report said is designed to fund community-based transit services in cities not adequately served by regional transit.

Councilman Tim Brown suggested waiting to see what other cities do with grants and how their bus systems fare.

The staff report estimated it would cost $403,078 to run a single bus 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, and if the OCTA paid 90 percent, it would leave the city to spend $52,678 per year on the service. On top of that, the city would have to buy the bus, estimated at $208,000, plus any costs of setting up bus stops that meet federal disability requirements.

The staff report cautioned that once a seven-year OCTA grant expired, the city might be stuck with all the costs.